Category Archives: My Life

09/12/16

How to get over jetlag, wish I knew!

Our own playarea onboard – Thank you Finnair!

Me and our 10 month old daughter arrived back to Guangzhou a week ago, but it took us a whole week to get over jetlag and back to normal.

I felt it was easier to go to Europe, we would wake up early but it was easier to get baby to sleep in the evening. But now that we came back to Asia, she wanted to stay up until midnight no matter how tired and woke up a lot at night.

Now that we are back to normal it feels like heaven! Sleeping babies truly are the most beautiful sight!

So I don’t unfortunately have any tips for getting over jetlag. We tried to nudge the rhythm to the right direction, but it usually backfired with a crying and grumpy baby. In the end it was time that helped.

Do you have any good tips to get over jetlag? I’ll collect best tips for next year’s holiday. 

08/10/16

Summer in Finland

It’s the last Summer month in Finland and we are in the middle of our holiday. Next in the agenda is to visit Tampere and Helsinki!

My home town is small and one day is enough to visit all then”sights”. Now that my mother’s vacation is over and my little brother will be back to school next week, the days will be quiet for me and my daughter. Luckily in Tampere and Helsinki I’ll be able to meet more of my old friends.

We’ve already visited Lahti, Kuopio and Porvoo in Finland, also made a quick trip to the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. I’ve been concentrating on second hand shopping as China doesn’t really have flea markets yet. 

For a few days temperature rose to 25 Celsius and we head to the beach where I used to swim every Summer when I was a kid. Water was around 19 Celsius, pretty warm I’d say!

My little brother (one of them, I have two brothers and a sister) is super into sports and we have done nice long walks with him and Anna in the baby carrier.

We have also been to the forest to pick blueberries as its a must activity for all Finns during the Summer! You ain’t no Finn if you haven’t braved some mosquitos in the forest while eating and picking berries! 

Anna has made friends with two dogs and a cat so far. She is clearly an animal lover! The cats run away while dogs like her company. Let’s see what our two cats will do when they realize Anna can crawl much faster now, they need to be careful!

It’s been a great holiday so far and we are going to enjoy the last month to the fullest as well. I’ve had some mild case of reverse culture shock, but I believe visiting bigger cities like Tampere and Helsinki will at least partly cure it. 

Until next time!

07/16/16

How to manage a 10-hour flight with a baby


Last Monday I took our 8 month old baby girl on a flight to Finland by myself. I was a bit worried how it will go as it was a daytime flight which meant most of the hours would be spent awake. Would she scream the whole way or would we receive unhappy states from fellow passengers?


At the airport my Manduca baby carrier was a life saver! I could carry Anna and still have my hands free to carry luggage, fill exit forms and buy snacks. I only took it off for the security check as the carrier needs to go through the checks as well. 

When we got to our seat I noticed the plane was almost full, but still the flight crew managed to arrange an empty seat next to us. Thank you for the man willing to change his seat!


I had reserved the first row seat so we could have more leg room and use the baby basket. We didn’t end up using the basket that much, except for our stuff, but I’m sure for the nighttime flight back to Guangzhou it will be very useful.

I brought a few toys for Anna, including the elephant you see in the photo, which was new for her (cousin’s toy) so it would keep her entertaint for some time.


But more than the toys she loved interacting with other passengers and luckily they liked her too. Chinese love babies, especially mixed babies!

For food she drank mostly breastmilk and some smoothies and snacks I brought with us. On my lunch tray there was salad and bread that were suitable for her as well. 

Only at the end of our flight Anna got too tired, it was 8pm Chinese time, and she cried a bit. Other than that our flight was a success! The crew was very helpful and made sure we had everything we needed so thank you Finnair.


Some tips for air travel with babies:

  • Baby carriers are golden at the airport and sometimes on the plane too.
  • Bring change of clothes for you and the baby. 
  • Bring warm clothes as the plane can get very cold.
  • Snacks for you and the baby are important too.
  • Bring a new toy with different functions, but water bottles are fun as well!
  • Book the baby basket seat if your baby is less than 70cm and 10kg or so. Or book it just for the extra legroom.
  • Be friendly to fellow passengers, they can be super helpful!

What other tips you have for flying with a baby? Please share your experiences in the comments.

07/9/16

From hot and humid to arctic North


Guess where we are going? Correct! Me and Anna are heading to Finland on Monday to spend the rest of the Summer a bit closer to the arctic circle. 

Today Guangzhou was scorching hot with 38 Celsius (feels like 40+) while my hometown in Southern Finland had only 13 degrees! I’m totally up for some cool and fresh air after being in a constant sauna these past days. 

This time it’s going to be a bit different trip back home. It’s the longest holiday I’ve ever had back home since I moved to China in 2010, a whole 2.5 months of Finnish goodness. It’s also the first time in 10 years I’ll be living with my mom for such a long time. And it will be the first time as a mother my self to go back to Finland. I wonder will I see things in a different light now?

The Summer will be for relaxing, totally need it after bringing life to baby and a thesis at the same time. But I do hope to get back to more frequent blogging as well. I realized I have so many ideas waiting to be written and published!

How’s everyone’s Summer plans? Taking the heat in China or escaping to cooler lands? 

06/9/16

What now? Student life finally over

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I’ve been a pupil or a student most of my life. I went to school when I was 6.5 years old, and besides taking two years off after high school, I’ve been student until now. After this month’s graduation ceremony my student life will finally be over. My exchange student years have gone by as fast as all these six years in China.

For the past half a year my main job have been taking care of our baby girl, it’s amazing to see her grow and learn new things every day. These two months I’ve also been teaching Finnish and Chinese on a relaxed schedule, allowing both me and our daughter to get used to the change.

In July our long waited trip to Finland arrives! Me and our baby will spend 2.5 months Summer vacation back home! Cant’ wait to let Anna meet my side of the family and show her where I grew up. If everything goes well, I’ll also be teaching a short course of beginner Chinese in Lahti before we head back to Guangzhou.

After a hopefully refreshing holiday in Finland it’s time to get back to business! Unfortunately staying at home longer isn’t an option as I won’t have any maternity benefits as I would if we lived in Finland, so work is calling. The rest of the year I’ll be working towards opening my own Chinese language center here in Guangzhou! I’ll be sharing more news about that as my plans go along.

My husband Alan has exciting news as well, he opened a Japanese bakery with other partners and they are all working super hard to make it a success. So far everything is going very well and their bread and pastries are delicious! If you want to try it ouy, you can find Fujio Japanese Bakery at the Utopia shopping mall at the Liede metro station exit A.

But now back to being a working mom and happy Dragon Boat Festival to everyone!